Recent developments in the fabrication of archery broadheads by powder injection molding processes have increased the flexibility in broadhead design and enabled better control on the dimensions, weight and variability of the end product. As an example, blade configurations of the broadhead may be thicker and/or may include variable thickness within the cross-section—e.g., taper from the ferrule to the sharpened edge. The use of thicker blade configurations satisfies the desire for stronger archery broadheads. However, it has been determined that thicker blades may also have the adverse effect of increasing the air turbulence and hence the noise of the arrow in flight.
When an arrow is shot from a bow at 180 to 350 feet per second, the broadhead, being the leading component, will encounter resistance from the air. With thicker blade designs, the increased frontal area (i.e., the area of the broadhead normal to the apparent wind) tends to exacerbate the turbulence and noise generation which is best described as a swishing or whistling noise. A quiet broadhead is important to a successful hunt because the hunted prey may “duck” or otherwise avoid an arrow if it can hear its approach. The adverse effect of a noisy arrow increases as the shooting distances increase. Therefore, there is a need to improve the aerodynamics of the broadhead to create a quieter arrow during flight.